292 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15 



" Shall I tell you, dear wife, just what 

 the matter is? " 



I suppose cur friends will all excuse me 

 when I say that I made this reply in order 

 to gain a little time before answering fur- 

 ther. She replied, " Yes, tell me what it is 

 that worries you all." 



She had been suffering on account of a 

 lack of sleep, as she always does under 

 similar circumstances, so I replied, " We 

 are all worried because j'ou are suffering 

 frcm a loss of sleep; for if you do not get 

 some sleep how can you resist the fever that 

 has got such a hold on you? " 



" Then if I go to sleep will you all feel 

 relieved? " 



Rejoicing that I had so successfully steer- 

 ed her off the track, I was going to drop the 

 subject. She shut her eyes as if to try to 

 sleep; and in a few moments afterward, in 

 a feeble voice, she said, "I did not know 

 but you were worried about my heart, for I 

 felt 'it fluttering." 



Just then I said I would go below to look 

 after the temperature of the rooms; but I 

 felt in real truth as if I must go away by 

 myself where I could pray. In the apart- 

 ment below, just under the bed where the 

 dear patient lay suffering, I knelt and 

 p(|ured out my heart in silent prayer. I 

 h;^- many times tried to pray since her 

 sickness; but it seemed to be a cold and 

 mechanical prayer. I did not realize the 

 danger. Just then, however, our two lives 

 seemed to pass in a panorama before ine; 

 and then I looked out into the future and 

 tried to catch a glimpse of what my life 

 would be without her daily counsel and lov- 

 ing sympathy. I realized that thousands 

 of others had met such trials, and were 

 bearing them as best they could; and I re- 

 member feeling ashamed of the selfish cow- 

 ardly spirit that prcmpted me to say in an- 

 guish, " O God. I can not bear it, I can not 

 bear even the thought of it." 



As I prayed I became more tranquil, and 

 I tried to say, as did the dear Savior, 

 "Nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be 

 done." 



Now, dear reader, before resorting to 

 pra3er I had done everything that poor hu- 

 manity could do. I had counseled with our 

 physician, and with his sanction I had 

 called the best medical help our State af- 

 forded. We had availed ourselves, also, of 

 the best nurses, two of them, so that she 

 could not suffer one single minute frcm neg- 

 lect. The five children were also near, 

 with my two sons in law and one daughter- 

 in-law, each vying with the other to see 

 what else could be done for the suffering 

 mother. After having done every thing that 

 this present age could afford for the sick, 

 then I could pray earnestly that the great 

 Father would look down in pity and loving 

 sympathy, and listen to his helpless chil- 

 dren. Jesus says, jou know, " If ye, then, 

 being evil, know how to give good gifts un- 

 to your children, how much more shall 

 your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit 

 to them that ask him? " 



As I went back to the sick-bed I felt that 

 the Holy Spirit was with us, even though 

 my request should not be granted. One 

 special thing was revealed to me as I knelt 

 there alone in the middle of the night — the 

 fact that we are so prone to be selfish in a 

 time like this. I was not praying for hu- 

 manity — in fact, I was not even praying, at 

 least theyi arid there, for sick people general- 

 ly, or that the physicians and nurses of the 

 world should have more skill and knowl- 

 edge. I was only beseeching the dear 

 Father to spare to me just a few years 

 longer the dear companion of my home and 

 my life. Why should I or why should we 

 in times like this expect that God was go- 

 ing to favor tis particularly when thousands 

 were suffering may be many times more 

 than we suffer? May God help us, while 

 we are praying for the sick, to strive more 

 to make our prayers unselfish ones. 



In my next I wish to give you some help- 

 ful suggestions in regard to the modern 

 methods of treating the sick; and I will 

 confess to you that one desire (of course, it 

 was a minor one) in this whole affair was 

 to find out what had been accomplished in 

 modern times in the way of relieving sick- 

 ness and suffering. It does not always 

 follow that people are cured by getting the 

 most expensive doctors and nurses; yet if 

 the science of medicine is making real 

 progress there ought to be a better chance 

 for the patient when we hunt up the best- 

 educated and most skillful physicians and 

 nurses. 



To be Continued. 



Temperance. 



LOCAL OPTION IN ARIZONA. 



While visiting at friend Jefferson's in 

 Safford, Arizona (see page 26), I was in- 

 troduced to quite a lot of temperance people, 

 and the3' told me of the fight they were 

 making to banish the saloon. Just now 

 friend Jefferson sends me a report of the 

 contest. We quote one sentence: 



Each side did its best, and the result shows the true 

 state of public sentiment in the place on the question, 

 there being 109 votes in favor of local option, and 82 in 

 favor of the saloons, the latter winning out by the 

 narrow margin of 19. 



Now, the queer thing to me in the above 

 is that it takes two votes for temperance to 

 balance one vote for whisky; and yet they 

 CiU it "local option." I supposed local 

 option meant that the majority should rule. 

 But that is not all the trouble. Mr. Cal- 

 vert, my son-in-law, tells me that in Cana- 

 da, where he came from, they have the 

 same beneficent (?) ruling to guard the 

 mjrals of the people. May I be permitted 

 to ask who perpetrated such an outrage on 

 decency, both in Arizona and Canada? 

 Surely Queen Victoria never introduced 

 such a regulation. It is "local option," 

 you see, but you must have two temperance 

 votes to match one saloonist. I hope I am 



